Inuyashiki Last Hero Episode 10 Review: People of Tokyo

It’s here, everyone. The moment we’ve been waiting for. This week’s Inuyashiki brought everything to the table: tears, laughter, and an epic battle.

Japanese Original Episode Title: 東京の人たち

Plot

Last week we witnessed Hiro being a large scale homicidal maniac (notice the difference in the phrasing) and deciding to experiment with his powers by invading networked devices and casually killing people. After he was done with that, he thought it might be nice to give his act some variety and increase in efficiency by throwing planes around Tokyo. And so he did. The episode starts with numerous planes falling around Tokyo, under Hiro’s skillful hands. Mari, who thought climbing the Tokyo observatory while an insane criminal with an incomprehensible superpower is on the loss is a great idea, finds herself trapped and asphyxiating, so she calls to her father for help. Ichiro, however, is busy landing planes on the beach and having an epic battle with Hiro, who tracked him down and wants to take him on, hating him for being the hero and making him the villain.

Ichiro, against all odds, puts on a good fight and tricks Hiro, ambushing him from the back, and tearing apart his hands and part of his skull. I’m impressed. Hiro lands broken on the asphalt, but Ichiro luckily falls on a lake, refuels, and immediately runs to Mari. He finds his daughter’s dead body enveloped in smoke and fire, and after a lot of effort and a lot of persistent CPR, he manages to resurrect her. He then asks her to go home and explains that he will stay outside until the early morning, trying to save people.

Hiro is found by two women who offer him juice.

Episode Highlights

Superhero meeting extraordinaire: I think we have all been waiting for that moment when Hiro and Ichiro would meet. Some more than others. I personally hate long battle scenes so I was loathing the day these guys would meet. However, I have to say, the fight was short and sweet, and it kept me following the whole time. Good job.

Surprise: Even though the episode starts with the regular ‘Ichiro is not as good as Hiro at this’ concept with Ichiro unable to control a single plane, the tables turn not only when he manages to successfully land all these planes by the beach (which I found hilarious by the way, don’t ask me why) but also takes on Hiro and breaks him to pieces while he’s been an annoying little shit, not letting him get to his dying daughter.

Mari opening up: It’s probably true that a near-death experience makes you feel alive – in Mari’s case, I think it actually turned her into a human. That frozen façade she was carrying around was broken, and I cried listening to her saying how much she loves her family with her last breath. The fact that she did not die after that makes it even better.

You almost got me: I seriously thought Mari was dead. When I saw her open dead eyes, I said, that’s it. It’s over. CPR, no CPR, no healing, nothing worked. And then she suddenly speaks. Boom! No, they really did get me this time. I don’t know how I’m gonna deal with having any of the main characters dying at this point.

Lame to epic: Anyone else thought that this lame fistfight Ichiro and Hiro started would just keep going like this, with the two of them bitch-slapping each other? I did. I also thought that would have been extremely funny.

Of course, he’s not done: Did you think Hiro would die that easily? YOU FOOL!

Themes & Trivia

Sky high: Not sure which Shinjuku observatory the girls were supposed to be in (probably the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building?), but here is a handy list of various Tokyo observatories for all you aspiring travelers.

Shion, please

Great episode. I cried like a baby (or like Ando or Shion, running nose and everything), I routed for my man Ichiro, he saved a bunch of people and ripped Hiro’s head off, it was great. The facial expressions on the rotoscoping rendered scenes are still pretty poor though. Ichiro was screaming and I did not empathize at all. Oh well.

How did you find this week’s Inuyashiki episode? Let us know in the comment section below! See you next week with another Inuyashiki episode review on Manga.Tokyo!